Earlier today, the Swiss National Bank reported a record CHF50.1 bln loss. It has the chins wagging, but the real implications are minor. The losses are not realized and are unlikely to be repeated. In fact, if the SNB’s report had covered the month of July, the loss would likely have been smaller.
Ever since the 2008 financial crisis, the Federal Reserve Board has been trying to regulate big banks that pose huge systemic risk to the economy. The financial crisis highlighted the fact that big banks were taking more risks for which they were not prepared. Some banks were so big that if allowed to fail, they could have taken down the entire financial system with them.
Europeans, and particularly Germans, appear to be choosing nationalism and convenience over higher returns on investments. The European Central Bank (ECB) recently announced its decision to keep its interest rates at historically low rates, hurting returns on relatively safe investments like those offered by banks. Nevertheless, many Europeans are sticking with these investments instead of moving their money abroad.
Peer-to-peer lending, the online platforms which allow you and I to lend directly to people and businesses who want to borrow, has been hailed as disruptive technology. Cheered by savers who have been stuck with rock-bottom interest rates, and by those who have sought finance from reluctant banks, the industry has grown exponentially since its birth in 2005. It has been seen as one in the eye for a financial sector at the heart of a crisis which has punished us all; which is why it might be off-putting to now see Goldman Sachs lurking with intent.
A month after America’s banks witnessed their largest quarterly revenue increase since 2009; Federal Reserve announced that it would increase capital requirements for eight of the largest banks across the country. Under the latest implementation of the Dodd-Frank financial reforms, the new risk-based capital surcharges would apply to systemically important U.S. banks that hold more than $50 billion in consolidated assets. In addition to J.P.
What we have seen post the 2008 global financial crash, as the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England and the ECB have sought to pump money into their respective real economies in order to get growth going again, is an absolutely enormous transfer of wealth from savers to borrowers.
The average pay of top bankers in the United States and Europe fell by 10 percent in 2012, according to a report by the Financial Times, after a series of high-profile revolts and legal scandals forced banks to place caps on executive remuneration.
Studying the total pay awarded to the chiefs of 15 leading U.S. and European banks, Equilar, a U.S. executive compensation research firm, found that top banking executives took home an average $11.5 million in 2012, 10 percent less than in the previous year.
Britain needs a “radical” overhaul of its scandal-plagued banking sector as well as the introduction of new laws that will make it possible to jail bankers for “reckless misconduct” and force bankers to wait up to 10 years to receive their bonuses, said the UK’s Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards on Tuesday.
Prosecutors in the United States say they have uncovered new evidence indicating that Chinese banks may have assisted Iran in monetary transactions – a direct violation of financial sanctions imposed by the United States.
As part of its global investigations, US prosecutors have in recent weeks identified and taken action against several Wall Street banks for funnelling billions of dollars through their American branches to Iran and other sanctioned nations.
Deutsche Bank has become the first global bank to introduce rules that would allow it to claw back staff bonuses earned at previous companies. While the move is unusual and unprecedented, pay consultants say it could turn into a blueprint for rival banks.
The new rules would apply to unvested stock from previous appointments converted into shares of Deutsche Bank and affect only senior bankers who joined the bank in or after January.
